#bindrakhiya

Born: April 15, 1962

Died: November 17, 2003

From: Bindrakh, Rupnagar, India (India)

Genres: Punjabi Folk

Occupations: Singer, Musician, Actor

Years active: 1990-2003

Official Website:  http://www.surjitbindrakhia.org/

Surjit was born to his father, Sucha Singh, and his mother, Gurcharan Kaur, in the village of Bindrakh of district Rupnagar in Punjab. His father was a famous village wrestler, who brought the village to prominence. Surjit was influenced by his father to take up wrestling and kabaddi. He won intercollege bouts at the university level. Although, his father always wanted Surjit to be a wrestler, he always wanted to be a singer. He began his singing career by singing boliyan for his college bhangra team. He received formal teaching from his guru, Atul Sharma. Bindrakhia appeared in films, before he was a major figure in the music industry. He was extra in movies, appearing in the background of several scenes. It wasn't until lyricist Shamsher Sandhu recognized his talent that Surjit had an opportunity in the music industry. All of his hit songs were written by Shamsher Sandhu and music was produced by Atul Sharma. He married Preet Kamal. The couple had two children, his son, Gitaz Bindrakhia, and daughter, Minaz Bindrakhia.

Surjit Bindrakhia had arguably one of the most powerful voice among Bhangra singers during his time. Throaty, with a wide range of sounds, he was one of the most successful traditional artist doing the rounds of the bhangra scene during his time. Surjit had been known in Punjab for many years, but his big break in the expatriate market came with Dupatta Tera Sat Rang Da 1995, a track that was his best known. Since many remixes in 1990's were made of his older songs and a new releases. Surjit Bindrakhia is credited as being the first international superstar in bhangra music. His song Dupatta Tera Sat Rang Da holds the record for being the number one Punjabi song on UK charts for weeks.